Single Sheet Hydroforming in the realization of complex parts

This work focuses the attention on the single Sheet metal Hydro Forming (SHF) process. In particular, the realization of complex shaped parts has been investigated; for this reason a compound shaped part has been considered (it is composed by an inferior cylindrical base and an upper square section protrusion). A numerical-experimental approach has been adopted. The experimental activity has been realized using an in home designed equipment; circular blanks (diameter: 95 mm, thickness: 0.5 mm) in AISI 304 have been used in the SHF tests. The numerical activity has been performed using the commercial Finite Element (FE) code ABAQUS\Explicit. Different geometrical configurations of the compound die cavity have been used to analyze the effect on the material deformation mode; critical regions, strain paths of elements lying in these regions and the thickness evolution along the blank section have been evaluated. In addition a comparison between compound parts and a simple squared part has also been performed.